A player who came through
the Tottenham youth ranks infuriated Spurs fans when he
ran down his contract and left on a free transfer for
Arsenal in 2001, despite giving assurances that he
"wasn't going anywhere."

Born in Newham and living in
Plaistow with his family, although Campbell was with
local club West Ham United as a very young schoolboy, he was
selected at an early age to
join the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall and from
there he
joined Spurs. Spurs scout Len Cheesewright spotted him
playing as a young boy for his
local Newham Schools side in 1989, having attended the Lister Community
School and his strength and style set him apart from the
others in the team. His father Swell worked night
shifts as a railway labourer and his mother Wilhelmina
worked in the canteen at the Fords work at Dagenham.

Represented England at
Under-15 and Under-16 levels.

As a young player, his
size and strength gave him an ideal physique to play up
front, which he did with some success, then in midfield,
but he was moved back into central defence, where he
found his niche. His debut as a substitute against
Chelsea saw him enter the play as a forward and indeed
he scored to get a consolation in a 1-2 defeat.

When he began to be
selected for the first team, his position was as a full
back and his pace gave him an advantage over speedy
wingers. Although tall, his defensive qualities
saw him make wingers have to turn back on themselves, as
they found it difficult to get around him. When
Gary Mabbutt retired, Christian Gross moved him into the
middle of the back four, but he found it difficult to
settle with a variety of partners there.

His ability to bring the
ball out of defence and bring a calming influence to the
defence saw him marked out as an England player, making
his debut in May 1996 and he went on to win 69 caps for
his country (40 while at Spurs). He became club
captain and lifted the League Cup in 1999 at Wembley,
but with his contract due to expire, he let speculation
grow about his future, as Tottenham held onto him rather
than sell him to Manchester United for £20 million as
Campbell repeatedly told the Press that he did not
intend to move. When it came to the FA Cup
semi-final of 2001, he played against the odds and
limped out of the action. This was the last time
he wore a Spurs shirt and the next time he pulled on a
shirt it was for that day's opponents.

A huge amount of vitriol
was aimed at him for his decision, which he put down to
ambition and having nothing to do with money. But
with no transfer fee to be paid, he could negotiate a
large signing on fee for himself. At Highbury, he
got what he wanted, but left in similar circumstances
after falling out of favour.

Joined Portsmouth on big
money and that was part of the club's downfall, with
Campbell one of the players still seeking £1.7 million
from them in image rights and unpaid bonuses when they
went into administration after he had captained them to
win the 2008 FA Cup, with a 1-0 win over Cardiff City.

Wanting away from Pompey,
he waited until his contract ran out and walked into a
five year deal ay Notts. County, where money was being
pumped into the League Two club. Unfortunately for
him, the level of football was not to his liking and he
left after only one game, with his contract being
cancelled.

Started training with
Arsenal to keep fit and filled a gap with injuries to
their central defenders, so signed a short deal until
the end of the season. He needed a new club and
Newcastle United fitted the bill, accepting their offer
of a one year deal over a three year contract at Glasgow
Celtic. Played irregularly for the Magpies and on
25th May 2010, he was released once more.

The opportunity had been
available for him to move abroad in the move he wanted
originally from Tottenham, but he then said he wanted to stay
near to his family, but subsequently moved to
Portsmouth when Arsenal no longer wanted him ...
especially after he was substituted in a game against
West Ham United at Highbury (after a particularly poor
performance) and then left the ground going missing for
a number of days. He signed for Notts County when
there was money pumped into the club with Sven Goran-Eriksson
as the manager, but his stay lasted only days, with one
away game at Morecombe and their basic conditions making
him re-consider his future there and claiming that
promises made to him were not being realised.

He went back to Arsenal
to train and there were rumours of a move to West Ham
United, but in the end he was surprisingly re-signed by
the Gooners and played a few games for them, but was not
the same player that had moved across North London years
before. The Highbury fans were confounded by his
performances.

When Newcastle United
came in for him in the summer of 2011, he made yet
another free transfer to join the Magpies, but his total
of seven games for them showed that his playing days
were coming to an end. Amid claims of wanting to
play abroad, go into management and making films, he
slipped away from the football scene and eventually, in
May 2012 announced he had retired from playing.

There have been times
when a large police presence have been required at White
Hart Lane for his returns to play Spurs with the club he
was representing at the time. His first return
with Arsenal saw a juggernaut commandeered by the Police
and parked across the entrance to Bill Nicholson Way to
protect the Arsenal coach. Effigies were hung and
set alight on his leaving and bottles thrown at the
coach and once, at him on the pitch. A campaign
with "Judas" balloons and a plan for fans to turn their
backs on him showed the strength of feeling of the
Tottenham supporters. Claims that racist chanting
had taken place when he comes back to White Hart Lane
are not true, as the only thing that has upset Spurs
fans was the colour of his shirt. Never have I
seen a player so affected by the crowd's reaction to
them.

While he gave Spurs good
service while wearing the Lilywhite shirt, that was
sullied by the ham-fisted and disrespectful way that he
left the Lane, having previously stated that he was a
Spurs fan and would not join Arsenal. That will
never be forgotten.

My two main pastimes are music and walking
my two dogs – Blackie and Bodger. There is a great park near to
where I live – West Ham Park – and I find walking very relaxing.
I enjoy listening to jazz but my favourite type of music is soul from
the early 1960s to the current day. I love so much that I would like to
learn a musical instrument – either the saxophone or more likely the
piano.

2011

Reported to be the joint 20th richest man in
English sport with £34 million in the Sunday Times Sport Rich List.

-

Sunday Mirror
03.07.2001

Youngest of 10
East End brothers.

Campbell moved out of the East End in 1996 and lives alone in a
sumptuous pounds 500,000 mansion in leafy Hertfordshire and keeps a city
pad in Docklands.

Had a Porsche with the number plate SOL 1.

Aged 11, Sol joined Rippleway Newham.

Signed for Spurs as a 14-year-old schoolboy in return for a club strip.

Campbell's friend Spencer Binks shared a dormitory at the FA's school of
excellence in Lilleshall, Shropshire with him between the ages of 14 and
15, then went on to play alongside him in the Spurs Youth side.

Campbell was grew at such a rate that one leg was half an inch longer
than the other.

In April 1989, two East London budding footballers played against each
other in the JT Clark Youth Cup final at White Hart Lane, Campbell for
Newham and David Beckham for Waltham Forest.

"Much has been said about
Sol Campbell's position but supporters can rest assured that
the club are doing everything possible to convince Sol to
stay. The ball is firmly in his court, but at the
moment, he does, like all players, have the right of the new
(Bosman) ruling."

Sky Andrew (Campbell's agent) ...
16.06.2013 (Metro newspaper)

"It was a situation that
came about because he was a very honourable guy and
conducted himself in the right way, which meant honouring
his contract. At the time he wanted to compete at the
highest level, and play with top players, so in the end he
signed for Arsenal because it was the best footballing
decision. We looked at other options but at the end of the
day, Arsenal was the best place for him to go and it was
proven so. Some big clubs pulled out because they wanted us
to speak to them before he had the situation sorted out with
Tottenham, but we wouldn’t do it."

"The referees we had for
our games used to charge GBP 3.50 a week, so we asked the
boys to bring 50 pence each. Sol, who was about 12,
never brought his money. I don't know if he couldn't ask his
parents for it. I never asked him - I didn't want to
embarrass him."

"Even though he's
incredibly rich, he's still the same old Sol.
We meet up sometimes in the West End. But he's never flash
with his money. We always split the bill fairly. And he's
not the type to surround himself with loads of material
things. Even though he can walk into a store and buy ten
pairs of Armani jeans without even thinking about it.
He likes nice cars but he hasn't got dozens of them sitting
in the garage. He's got a Porsche and a Land Rover.
He's careful not to forget who he is. He sticks to old
friends who care about him. Although he's got loads of
natural ability, he has also worked hard for it. And
while that's part of his natural character, his family have
played a big part as well. Sol would turn up at
Lilleshall with a gang of his brothers, all identical to him
but even bigger.

"In the first year, we shared a
dorm with four other boys, and in the second Sol and I were
room-mates.
Sol was always very dedicated to whatever he was doing. He
always has to be the best. When the rest of us were
lying around watching television, he would be in his room
finishing off his homework. "His best subjects at school
were maths and English. He did better than the rest of us in
the exams, getting several GCSEs. But that's Sol all
over. He recognised that if the football fell through he
needed to have a back-up."

? ... .. ()

"."

-

What Sol Campbell said about ...

... football ... October 1997 (GQ
magazine)

"I like football, but my
first thing was to be an electrician or something in
computers, so I'm relaxed about being in the public eye.
When I started, you could do anything a normal 18 year old
could do, let your hair down, whatever. Not any more.
If you're not smiling, chatting 24 hours, people think you
haven't got time for them, you're full of yourself ...
I don't mind people coming up and having a chat as long as
they're not drunk. And it's nice to help with
money-raising things as well - it's your duty if you've got
a profile."

... himself ... .. ()

"I like to be the tiger
roaming the jungle or an eagle soaring over the skies."

... on leaving THFC ... 11.04.2009 (The
Times)

"You make a decision, you
do everything proper."

... on getting into the first
team ... .. (THFC programme 24.02.2001)

"Once I got in, I played
something like 21 straight games and was then disappointed
when I had to rest, but that's how it happens with any
youngster. Before that I was in and out, finding my
feet - and finding my position. In the end, you have
to say, "Right, this is it, this is where I want to play and
this is where I want to stay."

"Not too much has changed
in that direction, but I did find the pre-season training
very hard."

... on going straight into the
youth team at Tottenham and the comparison with the FA
School of excellence at Lilleshall ... 14.09.1991 (THFC
programme)

"I was a bit knocked back
when I went straight into the youth team because I'm not the
sort who looks for everything straight away. I like to
take my time so I was expecting to spend some time in the
Juniors and hopefully break through later. But I've
settled into the side OK and am enjoying being part of it.
There is a lot of skill in this Spurs side - probably more
than we had at Lilleshall, where the concentration was on
working more as a team. It was a learning process
there - an education. At Spurs we look to play more
football. You are playing to win and to keep your
place, but obviously that has to be done within a team
frame-work. That's the way you win."

... the FA being racist ...
02.03.2014 (Telegraph and lots of other sources)